Fruit-press drive



March 9,1926. `1576,234,

F. COZZOLI FRUIT PRESS DRIVE Filed Nov. 16 1925 @in lnip'umlll INVENTOR 2 Fha/gif OOZZO Y ATroNEYs- Patented Mar.v 9, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK CQZZOLI, O F PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY,

Enum-PRESS Dnrvn,

Application ledN'ovembe'r 16,1925. Serial N'o. 69,442. I

To all whom t may concern.

-Be it kno-wn that I, FRANK' CozzoLI, a citizen of the 'United States, and a resident of Plainield, in the county of `Union and .State of NewY Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Fruit-Press Drive` of which I the following is a full, clear, and exact description. A

This invention relates to fruit press drives and has for an object to provide an improved construction whlch may be readily used for large orv small `fruit presses and which will secure a maximum pressing eiect with a minimum effort.

Another object 'of-the invention is to prof vide a drive for ruit presses wherein both power and manually actuated means are provided for operating the device.

A further object of the'inv'ention 'is to provide a fruit press drive wherein a spring is` interposed between the pressing disk and the driving mechanism for maintaining the pressing disk under tension after the ing mechanism has stopped.

A still further object, more specifically, 1s

driv- .to provide aV fruit press drive wherein an electric motor is used for operating the moving parts, the same being associated with an automatic vswitch mechanism for throwing the'current on and oi untilfa maximum pressing eect hasbeen secured.

In the accompanying drawing-'- Figure 1 is a fragmentary top. plan view of a fruit press drive disclosing an embodiment'of the invention.- n Flgure 2 is a sectional vlew through Figure 1, approximately .on line 2 2.

Referring to the accompanying drawing" by numerals, 1 indicates a tub or container which may be of any desired construction, preferably of a number -of vertical slats or bars whereby the juicesirom the fruits may freely flow therebetween. Associated-with the tub 1 is a screw shaft2 which is'held stationary by `the base of the device or in any desired manner. As the tubl, screw 2, base and other parts form no part ofthe present invention except in combination, further ldescription will not `be given.' A presserdisk 3 is loosely arranged in the tub 1 and is acted upon by the presser foot 4 which in turn 1s caused to function by the spring 5 which is very strong. This spring at the lower end presses against the lfoot 4 and at `the u pper end against what may' be termed the drivmg casing 6. This casing is provided with an.

annular groove 7 in which the annular fiange 8 o f lhub 9 is loosely fitted. The hub 9 is preferably formed integral with the worm wheel 10 though it could be made separate and rigidly secured thereto. The hub 9 is internally threadedr and screws onto the threaded shaft or vvscrew 2 as clearly shown in Figure 2. A worm 11 meshes continually with wheel 10, said worm being supported and driven by the shaft 12 which is supported in suitable-bearings in the casing 6, which casing extends upwardly and is formed with an annularjfange 13 to which is bolted'orl Votherwise secured a plate-14. The shaft 12 may be rotated Vmanually by a handle or crank 15 or may be rotated b y an electric motor 16 as hereinafter fully described. It

will be noted thatthe casing 6 is provided with an annular tubularlex'tension 17 having ears 18 through which the respective bolts 19 extend. These boltsare, screwed into the foot 4 but loosely pass through the ears 18. By this construction'and arrangement, the

spring. 5 will hold the tubular member 17 -out of contact with the foot 4.during the 'first part of the pressing action but as the fruit vbecomes more and more compact, the s ring 5 will be gradually compressed or c osed and will be completely closed by the time the lower end of the tubular member 17 strikes the tubular projection 20 of foot 4. As the spring 5 gradually com-presses, the

ears 18l willv move away from the respective nuts 21 butthe bolts'19 will continue to guide'the part-s. An insulating support 22 is'riveted or otherwise secured tothe tubular member 17 and supports a switch for motor 416. This switch includes a swinging arm 23 pivotally mounted at 24 on the insulating member 22... A pin 25 extends into'the openmg 26 in-'the upper endof bracket 27, said bracket being; riveted or otherwlse secured to the foot 4., Wire 28 extends from one terminal of motor 16 to the contacty 29 while Wire 30 extends from the source of power which drives vthe motor 16. It. will'be noted that the secbnd Contact of motorv16 will also when the spring 5 is fully compressed. The

current will remain turned od until spring 5 graduallyY forces the parts downwardly until spring 31 can again flop the arm 23 over into engagement with contact 29. When y this occurs the parts will again be operated or compressing spring 5. This compressing action will continue until the spring has been completel compressed and spring 31 will a second time, move arm 23 out of engagement with contact 29. If the matter being compressed yields suliiciently,-this action will/be repeated again but if it does not yield sufficiently, the current will remain turned off and the spring 5 will remain under great compression. In this way, an almost perfect squeezing action is given to the fruits so that all of the juices may be extracted. When squeezing grapes, apples or other fruits, it requires time to allow the juices to move out of the pulp and by using the spring 5, ample time is allowed for the juices to run out of the fruits without the necessity of the workmen watching the apparatus. The motor 16 may be connected up to the driving shaft 12 in any desired man- In the accompanying drawing,` a gear wheel 32 ,is rigidly secured to shaft 12 and extends through a suitable aperture 33 in the plate 14 so that it may continually mesh with a pinion 34. The pinion 34 continual.- ly meshes with a pinion 35 rigidly secured to the shaft 36 and a pulley wheel 37 is rigidly secured to shaft 36 and accommodates .the belt 38 which passes over pulley 39 secured to the shaft 40 connected with the armature of the motor 16. Suitable brackets 41 and 42 areconnected with plate 14 and present means for supporting the shaft 36 vand also the stub shaft 43.

IVhat I claim is: i y 1. A fruit press drive, comprising a stationary threaded shaft, a traveling nut arcompressed by said nut when thesame is rotated in one direction, a shoe for transmitting the pressure of said spring, and an automatically actuated switch arrangedin the circuit of said motor, said switch being automatically opened when said spring is completely compressed and automatically closed when said spring is partly distended.

2. A -fruit press drive, comprising a presser shoe, aspring acting on said presser shoe, a housing acting on said spring, a stationary threaded shaft, a nut carried by said housing and mounted on said shaft, means for rotating said nut for moving said housing whereby when said nut is moved in one direction said housing will compressA Said spring and cause said shoe to function,

Vmeans including an electric motor for rotating said nut, a switch carried by said housing interposed in the circuit of said motor, and means carried by said shoe for automatically opening and closing said switch according to the position of the housing in respect to the shoe.

3. A fruit press drive, comprising a presser foot and driving mechanism for causing said foot to function, said driving mechanism including an electric motor, a plurality of rotating members operated by said motor, a spring interposed between said foot and certain of said rotating members for transmitting power from the rotating members to the foot and for causing the foot to function after said rotating members have stopped their rotation and automatically actuated means for opening the circuit of said motor when said spring .has been fully compressed and again close said circuit when the spring is partly released.

4. A fruit press drive, comprising a presser foot, a spring acting on -said presser foot, a housing acting on said spring for compressing the same, a traveling nutacting on said housing for causing the housing to compress said spring, a worm wheel secured to said nut, a worin continually meshing with said wheel, a train of gears connected with said worm, a pulley connected with one memberof said train of gears, a belt connected with said pulley, a motor including a pulley for .moving said belt, and means carried by said foot and said housing for automatically turning off the current to pressed to a certain point.

-said motor when said spring has been com- 

